Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa, just celebrated his 90th birthday.

I was struck with today's newscast on this man who was credited for ending apartheid in South Africa, a rigid South African policy of segregating the non-white population.

BBC News reported, "Mr. Mandela was jailed for 27 years for his part in the ANC campaign against white minority rule but went on to become the country's first black president in 1994.

"Since stepping down in 1999, he has become South Africa's highest-profile ambassador, campaigning against HIV/Aids and helping to secure his country's right to host the 2010 football World Cup."

But a question I had to ask was, "Where are the Christians? Should not believers stand at the front lines of social justice?"

On one side, believers frown at the sight of social reform and justice since it so often ignores people's greater need of forgiveness through Jesus Christ. On the other side, believers and religious organizations fight hard for feeding the poor and stamping out drug trafficking, slavery, aids, and prostitution, but often forget that the gospel is a verbal message which Christ commanded His followers to proclaim.

But when did the two grow so far apart? When did social justice and the verbal proclamation of the gospel become enemies? Did Christ not practice both? No, He didn't come out with an anti-slavery campaign or three steps to being freed from prostitution, but did He not feed the poor, heal the sick, spend time with the bedraggled, and preach the gospel? And is the gospel not the most powerful and longest-lasting agent of producing social justice since it transforms the core problem which is the human heart? Even a cursory reading of Amos and Hosea reveals that God cares intensely about social justice.

If we isolate social justice too much from the gospel we run risk of telling the world that people's physical needs don't matter. The overused statement that Jesus only performed miracles to prove His deity I find unfair and overstated. Jesus did care for people's phsyical needs, yet still died for their greater need of being made right with God.

The time has come to both preach the gospel and serve people with humility. Spiritual needs are the greatest needs, but they are not the only needs! People are not just floating souls; they are both spiritual and physical. On the other hand, if all we do is offer food and clothing, what good is it to send a man to hell with a shirt on his back and food in his stomach?

Of all people, believers in Christ should set the example of social justice combined with proclaiming and living the timeless gospel of Jesus Christ. If we only give people the verbal message, are we really living the gospel we preach?